Stop yelling for a week!

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Posted by on January 4, 2011 at 1:04 pm

Or something like that. That’s what hooked me as I glanced at emails on my phone over the weekend. I had gotten an email from WebMd and it challenged me to stop yelling at my kids for a week. I was coming off of two weeks in the woods – (not really the woods, but not the city, that’s for sure) – where I was virtually yelling non-stop by the end, and my interest was piqued.

The article’s author, Amy Wilson, writes, “I don’t consider myself an angry person. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve shouted at my husband, and I wouldn’t dream of raising my voice at a rude salesperson.”

I continued reading and the author seemed to be writing about me: she has one more kid than I but same age range-ish and she’s not a yeller normally,but her kids bring it out in her. I occasionally yell at my husband but that’s not the norm. I expect that most people who see me without kids would be very surprised to hear the fishwife I become when the kids push my buttons or (gasp) simply don’t instantly obey. I never yell in a work setting; I don’t yell when my coffee is wrong or my cable is turned off or my taxi is taking a ridiculous way across town. I should also note that I don’t yell much at my kids in public but I have mastered a very scary hiss. (I’ll note, my sister and mother also have perfected the hiss.)

So I decided that Monday, January 3 is the day to begin the no yelling. Can I do it? Most of my fans say no. My sister, upon hearing my plan, suggested that I start small, trying to not yell at them for one day instead of one week. My husband just shook his head warily, albeit a little hopefully. Certainly, that fuels my motivation. One week it is.